ALDS: Sonny Gray is the right call for A's

By Tim Kawakami, San Jose Mercury News

Posted:
10/10/2013 08:13:19 AM MDT

Updated:
10/10/2013 08:13:21 AM MDT

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray delivers a pitch in the seventh inning of Game 2 of an American League baseball division series against the Detroit Tigers. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)

Sonny Gray made this decision for the A's, not literally but in every imperative, do-or-die October way.

Greatness and electricity made this decision. Raw urgency made this decision.

The need to throw the A's best guy on the season's most important night, and to avoid the cautious, careful play ... that was the entire decision.

That's what led Bob Melvin and Billy Beane to pick Gray over veteran Bartolo Colon for Thursday's monumental Game 5 start against Detroit at the Coliseum.

The bold and correct call: Go with the sky-high talent over a known commodity, with everything riding on the decision.

The subtext: The A's brain trust also has the ability and fortitude to live with the consequences.

Simply, in Game 2 Gray proved that he's the A's most scintillating pitcher right now, which means he has to be the guy with the entire season coming down to Thursday's game.

When the ultimate choice is between the solid guy and the young guy who might be starting a Hall of Fame career, you have to pick the young magic.

“It came down to Sonny's last game that he pitched in similar conditions in our ballpark,” Melvin said on a conference call Wednesday.

“So that's the route we're going to go.”

Obviously, going with Gray over the battle-tested Colon comes with the vast potential for second-guessing.

If Gray blows up early, there will be heads shaking across the nation and fingers pointing to Colon's 18 victories and veteran savvy.

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Yes, Colon, who was OK but not great in the A's Game 1 loss in this series, is the model of a calm, consistent pitcher unlikely to get derailed by the moment.

And the Tigers were facing Gray for the first time in Game 2 — when he threw eight shutout innings and struck out nine — so they will absolutely be studying the tape and readying adjustments.

So, Colon is the safer call, based on his experience and body of work this season.

(I don't think Colon's winless record against the Tigers since 2003 is that big of a deal. This season Colon has faced them three times and pitched relatively well each time. The most recent history is the most relevant history.) But Gray is the best call, because October is not about a body of work, it's about what works now.

And who fits the magnitude of the moment now.

“He's a bit of a bulldog,” Melvin said of Gray. “He's scared of nothing.”

Gray also fired 94 mph fastballs on the corners and dropped an exploding curveball that Detroit simply couldn't touch last Saturday.

I asked Melvin if he was already thinking of Gray as a Game 5 option in the moments after Gray delivered that Game 2 performance?

“You don't want to get too far ahead of yourselves, but you couldn't help not think about it given the way (Gray) pitched,” Melvin said.

“It's not like Bartolo has done anything to not warrant not pitching in this game, it's just that Sonny pitched so well.”

Gray, 23, has pitched well since he came up this season (and then went back down to the minors for a bit), but that's not why he's getting this start.

He's getting this start because of the way he pitched last Saturday, and the look in his eye while he did it.

He's getting this start because you have to believe that he's the last guy Detroit wants to see pitching with their season on the line.

On that stage, Gray not only matched the great Justin Verlander, he was better than Verlander. And that's the matchup for Game 5 once again.

By the way, Verlander's the man who beat the A's at the Coliseum in last year's Game 5 of the ALDS, but that was against Jarrod Parker, last year's A's young gun.

But Gray seems to exist on a whole other level — at least he did in Game 2, and the A's are betting he can get there again Thursday.

It's not the safe bet, but it's the right one, amid the urgency and the electricity and the largest moment of the season.

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